There are numerous examples that could be cited, but the one that particularly astounds me is how Christians obtain divorces for many different reasons despite the Bible's instructions on the matter.
The Bible's teachings can be summarised as:
Malachi 2:16
"For I hate divorce, says the LORD, the God of Israel."
- So, God 'hates' divorce.
Matthew 5:31-32
"It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery."
- So, divorce is only permissible if the wife is unfaithful.
Matthew 19:3-9
"Some Pharisees came to him, and to test him they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?" He answered, "Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate." They said to him, "Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?" He said to them, "It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery"."
- So, divorce is only permissible if the wife is unfaithful. However, it is pointed out that the word 'unchastity' is the translation of the Greek word pornea that can be translated as 'sexual immorality': consequently, this may include sexual behaviour other than unfaithfulness.
Mark 10:11-12
"He said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery'."
- So, divorce is not permissible (no exemptions are mentioned). If the husband/wife divorces and remarries, they are guilty of adultery.
Luke 16:18
"Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery."
- So, divorce is not permissible (no exemptions are mentioned). If the husband/wife divorces and marries, they are guilty of adultery.
Romans 7:1-3
"Do you not know, brothers and sisters - for I am speaking to those who know the law - that the law is binding on a person only during that person's lifetime? Thus a married woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is discharged from the law concerning the husband. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress."
- So, remarriage is only permissible if the husband dies.
1 Corinthians 7:10-15
"To the married I give this command - not I but the Lord - that the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does separate, let her remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife.
To the rest I say - I and not the Lord - that if any believer has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. And if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so; in such a case the brother or sister is not bound. It is to peace that God has called you."
- So, a Christian is not bound to an unbelieving partner who deserts the believing partner.
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To summarize: Divorce is not permissible under any circumstances. Divorce is only permissible if the wife is unfaithful and/or is guilty of 'sexual immorality'. Remarriage is only permissible if the husband dies. A Christian is not bound to an unbelieving partner who deserts the believing partner. It is clear that there was a very clear variation in the thinking of the different writers, but the most liberal interpretation of all of these is: (a)divorce is only possible if the wife is unfaithful/commits 'sexual immorality'. (b)divorce is possible if there is an unbelieving partner who deserts the Christian partner. (And remarriage is allowed if the husband dies). |
It is fascinating to see how Christians attempt to add to the very few occasions that the New Testament says divorce is permissible, e.g., one assertion is that if one partner behaves badly, this conflicts with Matt 19:6 that says a husband and wife are 'one flesh': therefore in such cases, divorce is permissible. This, of course, is nonsense as the New Testament is clear about the (very few) occasions when divorce may be allowed, and it is only by applying eisegesis of the worst kind that Christians attempt to avoid this.
In view of Biblical teaching, one would therefore reasonably assume that divorce would be very rare amongst Christians. However, according to LearnReligions,
"Christian marriages, and especially conservative Christian marriages, end in divorce more often than atheist marriages"Websites which are Christian or sympathetic to Christianity often refer to the percentage rate of the reduced likelihood of divorce among church-attending Christians, but this obscures the actual number who do divorce. According to LearnReligions, 'Barna Research Group, an evangelical Christian organization' found that:
25% of all American adults have had at least one divorceIt further states:
27% of born-again Christians have had at least one divorce
24% of all non-born-again Christians have been divorced
21% of atheists have been divorced
"The highest divorce rates are in the Bible Belt: "Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, and Oklahoma round out the Top Five in the frequency of divorce...the divorce rates in these conservative states are roughly 50 percent above the national average" of 4.2/1000 people"."
